Andover, ranked No. 6 in the Class 2A coaches' poll, prevailed in dramatic fashion Thursday night against unranked Champlin Park doing just that. Pushed around for the first two periods, snakebitten and trailing by two headed into the final five minutes, the Huskies returned to their identity and made it work for them.

Team captain and workhorse Gavyn Thoreson, having logged serious minutes with a particularly high level of compete throughout, provided a spark and broke the shutout 12:35 into the third with his sixth goal of the season. From there, the momentum swung for good as Andover began handing out the physicality more than it was taking it. Champlin Park (4-2) was never the same.

“Things changed after that,” Thoreson said. “Husky hockey is keeping it really simple. Getting pucks deep, playing the body, going to the net and not trying to be too pretty. Just be hard workers. We finally started doing that.”

Through the first two periods, Thoreson was about the only thing working at full capacity for Andover (4-3). Even when he’s not scoring, the all-state forward is the focal point whenever he’s on the ice. 

“It seems like he has the puck on his stick all game,” Manney said. “And he’s physical, and a little dirty. He’s a big agitator and you can see other teams hate to play against him.”

Throughout most of the game, Champlin Park threw everything but the kitchen sink at the 2021-22 Class 2A state champs. The Rebels were finishing their checks, counterattacking heavily and doing all the little things to disrupt Andover.

It wasn’t until the second half of the third period when Andover got things going, but once they did, the Huskies were a team determined. 

Tristen May-Robinson netted the equalizer with 1:57 to go, setting up the dramatic finish. In the extra session, Cooper Conway, who assisted the Huskies’ first two goals, found the back of the net a little more than two minutes in to lift the Huskies. 

“In the third period, we started to get after it,” Conway said. “We played the body and got pucks deep. From there, we played Huskies hockey and got the job done.”

The goal was particularly sweet for Conway, who drew a foolish unsportsmanlike penalty with 19 seconds remaining in the third period that negated a potential power play for the Huskies. Manney and the Andover bench was livid with the lapse in judgment, but the coach challenged Conway to flush it and let it go. 

“It was a dumb penalty,” Manney says. “I told him that it’s inexcusable, it’s not playing for the logo and it’s putting your own agenda ahead of the team's. But I said, 'Keep your head up because something good is going to happen when you get out.'”

It was sweet redemption for the senior, who now has six goals and 10 points for the season.

“When you make a mistake like that, you have to bounce back from it,” Conway said. “I had to make it up to my team.”